Mon 6 Nov 2006
I recently upgraded to a shiny new graphics card (NVIDIA 7900 GT) and was bummed when the DVI connection on my ViewSonic VA2012wb LCD monitor couldn’t detect a signal from it and just stayed in standby mode. At first I thought the card was just dead, until I tried using the DVI to D-Sub (analog VGA) adapter to send the monitor an analog signal, which worked fine. This mystified me, since the card and physical port were apparently working, but refusing to output a DVI signal. I’d just unplugged the monitor from my old DVI card, so I figured the monitor wasn’t the problem. Turns out the monitor was indeed (partially) the culprit.
I contacted support at XFX (the graphics card maker) and they recommended the usual (check connections, update motherboard bios, Windows drivers, etc.) but ended up advising me to return the card. Newegg, as usual, was great with their RMA support. Unfortunately, I experienced the exact same problem with the replacement card!
I eventually found the solution in some threads on the Anandtech and [H]ard|OCP message boards. It turns out that there’s a common problem with NVIDIA cards and many of ViewSonic’s 20″ widescreen monitors (most commonly the VX2025 but with mine as well), in which the monitor’s EDID settings get “stuck” into a state in which a DVI signal can’t wake the unit from standby mode. There are two possible solutions. The first, which worked for me, is to take the following steps:
- Connect both DVI and D-Sub when the computer and monitor are turned on
- Turn off the computer
- Disconnect the D-Sub, leaving the DVI in place
- Unplug the monitor’s power for at least 5 seconds
- Power the computer back on
When I did this, suddenly my monitor recognized the DVI signal and I got a nice digital picture. Another approach, which seems to have worked for a lot of people, is to use a utility called DVI Recover. I’m not sure where that program came from and can’t vouch for its safety or effectiveness, but from reading the message threads it sounds like it’s helped quite a few people.
Anyway, I was pretty frustrated with this problem at first and wasn’t finding much through general Google searches, so I hope this post helps someone in a similar situation. And ViewSonic definitely needs to get their act together and fix this problem!
Helpful threads:
- Problems with Viewsonic VX2025
- VX2025wm won’t display with DVI cable from 7900GT?
- VX2025WM problems?
March 14th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Hi,
Thank you so much for posting this. I lost almost all day trying to fix the same problem with my Viewsonic vx2025 and 7600GT, before I found your post here. Thanks bro.
April 13th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Oh glory! What a great post!
You’ve saved me many potential hours of frustration. Thank you very much. I was running on an analog kvm and getting ready to buy a pricey dvi kvm but I thought I’d try using my second input and just pushing an extra button to get the DVI signal from my machine that needs it… DING! I was having trouble getting the DVI to show up until I found your post. Thanks again.
May 7th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Thank you so much!
I’ve had my Viewsonic VA2012w for nearly a year now along with my 7600gt, and until I read this post I’ve never been able to get the monitor to pick up a digital signal.
Thanks again
May 20th, 2007 at 9:54 am
It works. Yes.
Viewsonic VX2235WM and ATI XT850. Your simple solution save me a lot of time and effort to talk to those Viewsonic / AMD tech support.
KUDOS for you. Thank a lot.
June 26th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Viewsonic just swapped out my monitor which was having the same problem. Ooops.
Thanks for the post - at least I know where to look when it happens again …
June 30th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Is this normal behaviour? I’m thinking of buying a new monitor and I need it start when I turn on my PC. I use a ’smart’ mains panel and I can’t turn my monitor on before the PC. Surely these monitors are broken and you should be able to get a refund… or is this another example of a unique feature that you should feel privileged to have?
PS. Is the fix permanent or do you need to apply it regularly?
July 1st, 2007 at 10:04 am
Andy,
For the most part, you only need to do it once. In my case I had to do it when I changed graphics cards.
- rdo
July 29th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
When you to unplug the monitor (step 4), do you mean power or the DVI? I am trying your recommendation with no luck… (have a XFX 7900GT and Viewsonic 2012wb)
July 29th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Daryl,
Unplug the power so that the internal monitor electronics reset.
- rdo
September 19th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
You sir, are an absolute legend! I was tearing my hair out on this one till I stumbled across this article, can’t believe how simple it was.
If the internet had a front page, then this should be on it!
Cheers,
Mark
November 7th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Thank you for doing this website. This has worked for Viewsonic 2025 and XFX 6800.
As ppl say “Computers can make your life very difficult”.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
How you find time for this Ryan, I have no idea but great post.
i was Having Similar issues with my good but Severely outdated Nvidia geforce 3 ti 200 when Anna bought me a shinny new 20″ Samsung 205bw. Took some troubleshooting but i eventually got it. I still have constant issues with “flickering” wherein graphically heavy Programs, ie one the 90th line of the feature tree in swx, would cause the monitor to blackout for 2 seconds then come back… annoying but definitely better than using an analog signal. I was wondering if you ever experience this kind of issue, and if so, any remedies?
Well anyways, thanks again for the reference. My employers Bow down to the surfacing skills i learned from you
January 17th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Thanks again for this as it worked for me too. I just bought this computer less than 2 months ago. Yesterday I had no problems but today, no digital signal upon boot up. I used your fix and everything is OK now. By the way I have a Geforce 8800 GTS card and a Viewsonic VX2235wm flat panel LCD moniter. So far so good!
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 am
Same damn problem with a Macpro and a viewsonic 2025, I´ll try what you posted and let you know if it worked.
Thakns in advance
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:23 am
Worked just fine dude, many many thanks for posting this.
January 30th, 2008 at 4:17 am
Thanks for the tip
I just managed to use this tip to get the DVI signal between my 7950 and Dell 2047 working.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
you are a legend had this problem since upgrading to vista veiwsonic were no help did’nt have a clue nvidia mumbled somthing about edid settings but did’nt give a cure thanks a lot steve.
February 12th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I have a similar problem with a new Sapphire Ati HD 2600 XT & a Viewsonic VG2030wm Monitor. There is no display at boot up. I used the VGA connection to install the new 8.1 Catalyst ,then the DVI would work once Windows was booted up.
February 12th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
I forgot to mention I am running Windows Xp Pro & my X1900 All In Wonder card with DVI always worked,So how can that be a stuck EDID??? I would like to try a LG monitor just to rule things out. My computer is only about a year old, I have the Asus P5W64 WS Motherboard Bios 0215.Hopefully someone can come up with a solution??? Or I guess I will have to try a new Monitor (LG) with HDCP.
February 16th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Had this problem earlier but forgot how View sonic support helped me resolve which is exactly what you have posted here.Could not remember for the life of me , thanks for the post . Actually had to send one back for a replacement as it had same symptoms but was actually screwed.
February 16th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Just an update for everyone,the problem is with my Viewsonic. I bought an LG L206WTQ-BF 20.1″ Widescreen,I can see the boot screen now.Monitor has a 3 year warranty & was only $219.99. It also has better specs than the Viewsonic.I am not even going to waste my time with my old monitor,it either works or it does not.You pay a premium price for the Viewsonics so there is no excuse. I think they just went down hill with their LCD line,the CRT’s were amazing, I still have a GT775 graphic series & it’s still as good as the day I bought it about 8 years ago.
I think Viewsonic just got lazy, as they do not even have a monitor with HDCP, they are not keeping up with the latest standards.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
thanks heaps… i got the vx2025w… pain in the ass, with 7600GT. had this problem for months. thanks again!!
April 16th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
YES! That did the trick. I too thought it was the video card (in my case its a 6800). I have the same monitor, with both cables plugged in, but only the d-sub worked. By unplugging the Monitor ( and the d-sub) that managed to reset the monitor (who would have thought you’d have to reset a monitor) and poof, digital days are here again.
Thanks!
May 12th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Chris, how do you like your LG L206WTQ-BF ? I’m looking into getting (frys.com $199) but can’t find a review on it. Can you tell me what your experience with it so far?
May 15th, 2008 at 2:46 am
DVI-I Integrated DIG/ANA Dual , has anyone tried this method? its the connection on both the viewsonic 2025 and the 8800 gt card. i was thinking of getting this cable to try and fix my comp problems, niether the download nor the reset seems to work, i loose signal after the running bar at startup.
June 9th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
my VA2012W does not wake from standby on a macbook running os x leopard, I found that removing the power from the monitor waiting a few seconds that powering on works with that too. May be of use to other mac owners.
July 1st, 2008 at 1:00 pm
The DVI recover program worked brilliantly! I truly appreciate your help. I have a Viewsonic VA2012wb and switched from Analog to DVI. At first the monitor was not recognized, however, running the utility you mentioned fixed it. Thank you so much.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
OMG, thank you so much for this info. I formatted comuter like 5 times because I thought there’s something vrong with my GPU, i tried about 20 different drivers for it, and then I found this, pure gold. Thank you one more time!
Andro
August 5th, 2008 at 3:31 am
Hi, this has been helpful till Explorer booted and it got f*ked up again.
I followed all your steps and when I booted up the monitor found the digital signal I was stoked. But, once, Explorer loaded up it lost the signal and blanked out.
I have a VG2030wm with Nvidia FX 5200, PLEASE HELP
September 11th, 2008 at 2:51 am
Thanks for the post. It works!!! I’ve had my VX2235wm Monitor for a year and a half now and I’ve always used it in analog mode. My new laptop comes with a HDMI port, and I wanted to start using the monitor in digital mode. When it didn’t work, I tried everything, but no success. It worked on another monitor, so I knew it wasn’t the laptop. I was thinking time for a new monitor until I tried your simple steps. Thanks.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Hey thanx for the post, it really worked… to some point. Now i can see the computer bios and everything starts well but when the bar of my windows vista fully load then my DVI lose signal again. I can go on safe mode and there is no problem, but when i try to load the windows normally it will just lose the signal.
I got a ViewSonic vx2025wm and a evga9600 dual digital
September 15th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I have ViewSonic VX2255wmb and ATI3650, and tried your idea, DVI Recover utility and finally http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Comp/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video/2006-02/msg00038.html and I’m not sure what helped but it works now on DVI. All you people need is idea and to be persistant.
Cheers
September 16th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Just one update.
DVI disappear two times in two days. So I have solution that work’s. Disconnect d-sub and DVI cable’s. Leave monitor turned on and on AC. Disconnect AC cable. Press and hold the [Up] buttons on front panel. Plug AC cable, and wait for message NO SIGNAL - DIGITAL ( or ANALOG ). Plug in DVI cable, and you should have DVI connected. Hope it will help somebody.
Cheers
November 24th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Worked fine. Thanx for the tip.
February 9th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Thank you!!!
February 21st, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Thank you, worked like a charm! Wish I had found this before 5 hours of troubleshooting and purchasing a new video card.
April 22nd, 2009 at 5:45 am
Thank you! Your post saved me countless hours that I was expecting to spend trying to figure this out.
May 26th, 2009 at 8:49 am
this is working so WELL for everyone, and not for me - I think I may be doing something wrong, or in the wrong order - I am completely computer ignorant. Can anyone walk me through again? I am turing computer on - getting the no signal digital note (additionally - no sound) from here I am disconnecting the dvi and dsub from the monitor end, and reconnecting. I turn off the computer by holding the power button down (since no screen can not shut down correctly) then i disconnect the dsub from the monitor end. unplug the power from the monitor end. wait - plug back in, and trun computer back on…at what point to reconnect the dsub? or have ai already messed up a step. this is only a year old computer and videocard and monitor. before it went to no signal message on black screen, i noticed the screen would shut down after being in standby mode for more than 12 hours or so, and i would have to reboot the computer to get it going up again, but now nothing works. i am at my wits end, any help is so appreciated